Launching a business at any time can be a daunting task, not to mention during today's economic climate. Fortunately for local entrepreneurs, Detroit is home to many initiatives designed to foster business growth and opportunity. These organizations can help you connect with these initiatives and the business resources you need to help your business succeed.

There was a time when brands assumed the only way to engage with potential customers was to attempt to sell them a product or service. However, when the Internet arrived, it brought with it an entire new paradigm for sales. Individuals and companies that were observant quickly adapted to the new way of marketing, while those that had less vision found themselves quickly losing out to the competition.

Potential customers that have a social conscience have a distinct advantage to using a minority-owned business. Getting VA-certified serves to illustrate that the company has taken the time and effort to achieve certification. There are over 6 million minority-owned businesses in the United States, and yet, less than 20,000 have been certified as a Minority Business Enterprises. Many companies require certification as a minority-owned business before using a company in a corporate supplier diversity program. This allows the various benefits and advantages set aside for minority businesses to be utilized only by companies that are properly verified.

Back when the Internet first appeared on the scene, very few companies thought that it would have an impact on their sales and services. Some saw it as a fad, while others thought that it would be relegated to simply being used by teenagers for recreational purposes. That changed when Jeff Bezos introduced Amazon to the masses -- changing the course of online commerce forever. When social media became a staple of the Internet, online marketing and commerce allowed a one-person company to wield a digital presence as powerful as any major brick-and-mortar store.

In my experience, a lot of online networking begins offline. You meet people, you pass them your business card, they visit your site, and it goes from there. They may add you to their social networks or subscribe to your email list. That's when the magic begins. Once they are on your Email marketing list, they begin developing a relationship with you and your brand.

That's how it should work, but in my experience, many companies are dropping the ball and neglecting to bring their offline contacts online. They understand that they should collect email addresses and business cards at networking events or at the point of sale in their bricks-and-mortar businesses, but they do not know how to turn those contacts into gold.

When you’re running your own business, you understand how important it is to free yourself from marketing issues. You want to focus on your business, and not spend countless hours working on generating leads. If you’re looking to save money and time, as well as freeing up your employees for more important tasks, you need look no further than marketing automation.

During an election cycle, it is vital that politicians are able to get their message across to the most important people in the world – the voters. In the past, this has proven difficult, as many of the mainstream media outlets have been able to pick and choose exactly what information is released to the public on a daily basis.

With the rapid rise of social media, however, all of that changed. Politicians discovered they were no longer bound by the constraints of the media as to how and where their message could get through. They were able, through social networking sites such as Twitter, to directly speak to the voting public.

Today’s highly competitive market means that it’s more important than ever for minority business owners to take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself, and nowhere was this more obvious than at the latest Chrysler “Matchmaker” program. This is one of the largest and most successful programs currently available, with an incredibly strong emphasis on working with minority businesses to branch out throughout the automotive supplier chain.

This time it wasn’t by any of the players. Instead, 22 of the newly renowned Dolphin Cheerleaders took part in another infectious, but pleasing to the eye, lip dub of Carly Rae Jespen’s, “Call Me Maybe”. For all of you football fans, I'm sure this one you can stomach.

Remember when you were young and the words people wrote on the washroom wall could affect your reputation all the way through high school? Of course, the janitor painted over those words from time to time, and when you left school most of you got a second chance to prove yourself as an adult in the workplace. However, there is a new threat to our reputations, one that is not easily erased or left behind. 

Did you catch the Super bowl this year? With no lions in sight, I watch the Super bowl as much for the ads as I do the football. I am always amazed at the corporations that spend millions on commercials that may never be seen again. I guess it’s hard to resist a chance to create a powerful brand impression in the minds of each year's large U.S. television audience.

This year Chrysler bet it all on a commercial, "Halftime in America," that serves to associate the Chrysler brand with American values of grit and determination. Clint Eastwood resurrects his autoworker character from the movie "Gran Torino" to deliver a message of hope that the city of Detroit is leading this country out of despair. The message is powerful and worth watching if you have a minute:

You're blogging. You're using SEO. You're measuring PPC. You're making sure everything you post goes viral. But your Internet marketing strategy STILL isn't bringing in the business you want. Here are four possible reasons why.

January, we all start fresh. We trot out our bad habits and resolve to try harder to kick them. Retailers clean up with closet solutions and white sales. We all have such high hopes for the new year.

This is 2012, a year some predict will be our last. I don't put much stock in dire predictions. If this is my last year, I am fortunate to be spending it in the company of great friends, family, and clients.